Digital Citizenship for Middle Schoolers: Assessment and Instruction

The Covid-19 pandemic situation has altered the operation and way of life for everyone across the globe. Similar to how students regard and rely on the Term Paper Easy for their homework needs, social interactions depend on social media outlets for the human race. However, not every student has access to a supporting cast to comprehend social media’s ins and outs. Social media can have an ugly side. Without the exposure to deal with such, students, mostly from low-income families, can negatively experience their real lives. 

So how can such students get protected from these exposures or their impact? Most of the time, preparing students by engaging them in conversation can prove a real positive. It’s at this point that common sense learning and similar digital citizen lessons come in handy.

Strategies for Implementing Digital Citizenship Lessons

You can implement lessons on digital citizenship on a rolling daily basis. Each day with its separate lessons to learn for the students.

• Media balance and health : Monday

It should include the good and the bad of social networking platforms. Students have to reflect on social media’s impact on their ability to learn how to operate social media platforms in a balanced and positive way. 

Discussion questions should entail aspects like what it means to overshare and how it can impact other people or yourself concerning your feelings about social media use. Additionally, you have to consider how you can react when you experience a bad feeling while using a social platform. Further, consider aspects like building healthy social media routines and differentiating an attention-grabbing design online. 

• Privacy and security: Tuesday

Here you have to teach students about phishing and scams. The repercussions of stealing an identity besides the identification methods and action plan against phishing and scams on social platforms. 

Discussion questions should touch on private information and samples of such, clues in identifying scams or the phishing kind, the importance of protecting yourself from scams, and privacy on social media.  

• Digital identity and footprint: Wednesday

Teach students about shaping their digital footprint and the consequences of each action they take on social platforms on their digital footprint.

Discussion questions should touch on digital footprint, examples of actions that add to your footprint, action plan to become conscious of the digital footprint. Additionally, it should also include online identities, presentations, and the impact of having diverse accounts on social platforms.  

• Cyberbullying, Communication, and Relationships: Thursday

It becomes essential for students to comprehend aspects safe to share online and for what audiences.

Discussion questions should involve differentiating the different types of information, response upon receipt of a message seeking your private information, action plans to safeguard your private info on social platforms, etc. 

• News and Media Literacy teach students to understand the reason for fake news besides the striking signs that characterize fake news online.

Discussion questions should entail aspects like the advantages and drawbacks of receiving information on social platforms.

Conclusion

In this dispensation where learning and social interactions take part virtually, it becomes crucial to consider the strategies discussed to keep your students safe from social media’s bad and ugly.